I have been an Apple fan for years now. Yeah I know that many of you know that already. I have always liked the apple retail stores but after my experience this weekend I am even more so.

So here is the story. I got tired of hearing how my parents’ wireless network wasnt working so I decided to fix it once and for all. So I went over the other day and beat upon it until it would work. Well it didnt get any better. Damn it! So after work friday I went over the the apple store@NorthPoint. I signed up for a time slot to talk to one of the geniuses. Great, I hung out and played with the new macs for a little while until it was my turn. I go up there to the genius bar and talk to Justin. Great and knowledgeable guy. I explain the problem my parents are having, talk to him about what I have tried and so forth. He wanted to show me a few things on the Airport Extreme but the store’s wireless units are locked down by corporate (IT?) and they dont have access to them to even show a customer how to do things. I think it is a mistake but I dont make those decisions. Even if they had a unit that was not hooked up to any network but the geniuses could use it to explain things to customers. But hey I dont work for apple. But Justin was able to explain a few things to me that I can try to help fix the problem. And if they didnt work, for me to come back and they would replace the Extreme unit. He even went into how I can register from home to get a time slot at the bar. Nice guy. Very professional. Very customer oriented.

Well I went to my parents house to see my dog (aka cancer dog) and to try these things. Well none of them worked. Good tries and good effort. Just no dice. So registered to go back today and see Justin (well you can not register for a particular person but I put a note to see Justin in the reservation).

Day two of the apple store. I went in a little early and hung out. Boy was it packed. Sorta like their neighbor when they have the 2 for 1 panty sale. So I was glad I had a reservation. I talked to Justin for a second when he informed me that Kirk would be taking care of me since he was working on the iPod queue. He said that he talked to Kirk about the situation so he was up to speed. Great! that is good customer service. I dont have to repeat the whole story for every person I talk to. Way to go! So Kirk and I talked about the problem and what I tried and what didnt work. He asked some new/different questions about things to do. All but one I had tried before and didnt work. He looked at my mom’s powerbook and the airport express. Then he agreed that it was the Extreme base station. He did ALL the paperwork and did all the work to get me a replacement part. All I have to do is bring paperwork & the old unit back in when they call us when the part comes in. Very easy.

They could have told me to go away about a dozen times or so since it wasnt my stuff. I didnt live at the address where it was registered or anything. But instead of finding reasons to say no. They kept looking for the positive outcome for the customer. All within the bounds of their jobs/policy. Service like that will keep people coming back in over and over again.